Slap Shot: Never seen this before, except maybe brief clips, but it is one of those movies that live up to the hype pretty damn well. Paul Newman was pretty much the perfect ringmaster to keep this circus together. Of course since I am a sophisticated Internet liberal, I have to wonder is it politically correct to laugh at some of these lines, but that comment by Newman about the son of the lady owner is one of the best movie insults I have ever heard.
Rumble Fish: I sort of hated this but also found it somewhat intriguing. Nothing happens, and Mickey Rourke has some sort of Brando-lite act going on. You keep waiting for him to say something profound, but it's just the same cryptic bullshit right from the start. Somehow the movie still managed to not be terrible and despite some unintentional hilarity, like Rourke knocking that guy out with a motorcycle, it was kind of okay as a lost youth picture.
City of Angels: Can't believe this is a real movie. I thought this would be a romantic comedy, because all I knew was that Nicolas Cage is an angel who falls in love with Meg Ryan and there's that Goo Goo Dolls song. Instead this was a series of some of the creepiest "romantic" scenes I have ever seen, the way Cage was staring at Ryan and spouting his fundie claptrap (I mean, sure, Meg Ryan is pretty much a stalker in Sleepless in Seattle, but hey, romantic comedies). Just when you thought the nonsense was over when they finally got together (although we are still treated to a scene where Ryan asks Cage to describe what her pussy feels like. "warm and aching" was the verdict), Meg Ryan then decides to ride a bicycle with her eyes closed down a mountain road like she was at the bow of the Titanic, and I thought that is one goddamn easy way to get yourself killed. AND THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENS.
Slap Shot is a garbage soulless film. I love the idea of it. And I love Paul Newman, and the triplets, and how it inspired films like Major League. But the film is garbage, and worst of all dull.,.
Rumble Fish though. Not a great film, but a fun film,. Great cast, great director, I really like that movie,
City of Angels. I think it is completely adequate. Outside of the Goo Goo Dolls song, I enjoyed it. This was pre Meg Ryan facial destruction. And Nick Cage is trying. I like that movie., Never mind the Goo Goo Dolls song..
Night of the Living Dead had a small budget, but it's by far the most realistic, best-written movie in the series. Dawn is a great horror movie, but too on-the-nose with the cultural stuff, whereas Night let things like the racial dimension simmer more subtly.
Black Mass
This was definitely much better than I thought it'd be. I think what elevates it above my expectations and a lot of typical gangster fare is that it's just as much about John Connolly as it was Bulger -- who, btw, is absolutely Depp's best performance in a long long time, he kills it. I wish there'd been a bigger focus on the dynamic between him and his brother, but I can see how the story might get lost in that unless you were to blow this out into a three-hour movie or something. But as is, I really liked it a lot more than I thought I would.
That's funny. I enjoyed it much less than I thought I would. I'm not really sure why. It moved a little more slowly than I thought, and I thought Depp's makeup was kind of distracting.
my favorites:
Psycho: "1/2 star - its boring. nothing happens until the end and the end is not scary. its in black or white" mostly for that last sentence."
American Psycho: "5 star - i loved this movie so fuckin much. i feel like the main guy sometimes when i walk threw my school. i hate everyone"
The 1/2 star Elmo movie review that's just a list of swears
but best of all is the Sucker Punch review:
Mr Fritz class period 3 Creative writing college prep essay 3-2-15
Sucker punch is a movie. It is a very good action movie that makes you think, like Aliens. For example The movie uses symbolism to mean the girls wanting to escape from the mental hospital for Example, when the girls are transported to the war world, the war reprents the hospital and their fight represents they want to escape. The music that is used is also a symbol of their minds. When White Rabbit Jefferson Airplane is played thats supposed to mean she is taking a pill "one pill makes your larger and one makes you smaller" and becoming high. When Search And Destroy The Stooges is played that is supposed to be a metaphor the war they are fighting in the movie. There are more rock and roll songs they use. T THE end of the movmovie, the Where Is My Mind Pixies song is used because when she gets out of the hosptial at the end of the movie she feels like shes lost her mind. The music is major symbolically.
everyone has there own interpretion of this movie and theorys well heres mine
1.put the movie in the dvd player
2.play the movie
3.go to like 32:17
4.pause the movie
5.turn the brightness up on ur tv
6.turn the contrast up on ur tv
7.turn the volume up
8take a picture of the tv
9put the picture on your computer
10,print the picture
11.look closely and u have in ur hands a photo of a terrible fucking movie that makes no goddamn sence no matter how u think its supposed to mean
The Overnight - pretty weird mumblecore, but the couple IMDB user reviews i skimmed made me think it'd be insanely bizarre, but nah, pretty weird is about right. It's pretty good and fun though thanks to the chemistry all 4 actors have, and it's super short too (79 minutes!)
my favorites:
Psycho: "1/2 star - its boring. nothing happens until the end and the end is not scary. its in black or white" mostly for that last sentence."
American Psycho: "5 star - i loved this movie so fuckin much. i feel like the main guy sometimes when i walk threw my school. i hate everyone"
The 1/2 star Elmo movie review that's just a list of swears
but best of all is the Sucker Punch review:
I really do mean everything I say. I have better things to do than to moderately inconvenience/irritate people on the internet. I love talking about movies I've seen, and I'm fully aware that my opinions aren't shared by you guys. Well, I'm glad I got to share my quick thoughts on it anyway! I at least enjoyed my second viewing a lot more, since it was way more interactive with the jokes and the laughing. The first time I saw it by myself and it was very boring.
The original Night of the Living Dead is pretty damn dated. I don't know if it's 3/10 dated, but Romero's legacy being tied to that film as the one he'll be remembered most for and not, oh, I don't know, Martin is a shame.
The original Night of the Living Dead is pretty damn dated. I don't know if it's 3/10 dated, but Romero's legacy being tied to that film as the one he'll be remembered most for and not, oh, I don't know, Martin is a shame.
Snowy while you're here, can you tell me why WWE thought it was a good idea to put a 56-year old man in a main event who hasn't wrestled a legit match inyears
Snowy while you're here, can you tell me why WWE thought it was a good idea to put a 56-year old man in a main event who hasn't wrestled a legit match inyears
Cuz their current strategy to keep network buyrates up is to find attractions to keep people watching in off months, it seems. Sting this month, Brock/Taker in a cell next month.
To Sting's credit, he did well. Second buckle bomb was reckless to agree to, though.
Speaking of directors of name, I watched Rear Window (1954) yesterday. It's strange to see this cramped environment today, considering most have a separate bedroom and not everything enclosed in the same space (which is now a studio, I guess. Though I don't know New York or what conditions there are like now). And the not quite subtle (male dominated) attitudes towards women, though I suspect based on her performance Grace Kelly knew damn well how to play that game, it just wasn't yet the time to tell a guy to shove it when asking about dinner. Thank god that's over. Well... mostly.
It's a really nice movie though, using both the main character's apartment as the movie's viewpoint and at the same time using open windows (and closed ones) to tell the stories of all the other characters in the movie, like a literal frame story. I quite enjoyed this style inside a movie, as well as how it progressed the plot naturally. Particularly the mirroring motif among the framed stories with the main one is a nice addition.
I doubt modern audiences would find it very suspenseful (and tumblr would have field day with this one, yikes), but its skill in the craft of storytelling is undeniable.
Whiplash. Man, what a movie! Saw it with really good headphones and the last act together with the sound made my blood boil out of excitement. 10 out of 10!
I just finished watching The Town That Dreaded Sundown (2014)
While livetweeting it, I was informed that it was a remake. Which is a little frustrating since The Town That Dreaded Sundown (2014) is the kind of remake that I love most. One that uses the original film as a jumping off point and tells a sequel, side story that hits the same beats as the original, like my second favorite remake of all time Evil Dead (2013).
Unfortunately, while Town does hit my happy remake buttons, it fails to deliver on anything really worthwhile. Tension is nonexistent as the movie gets very repetitive very quickly, all of the characters are unlikable, and the twist that Mr Potatohead
was actually Mr. Potatoheads
was super obvious. Nothing the movie did excited me, and I quickly grew bored of it.
I did, however, really enjoy the cinematography (sometimes) and the score. It felt very soft and sincere, dreamlike in the ways that made movies like Drive and Spring Breakers so compelling. But while I strongly believe that both of those movies had much more to them that made their visuals make the substance even more powerful, The Town That Dreaded Sundown (2014) just has a nice concept that looks pretty and that's about it. Passed the time, though, and I wasn't upset when I left. Could do much worse. Will watch the original eventually to make me like this film even more!
I just finished watching The Town That Dreaded Sundown (2014)
While livetweeting it, I was informed that it was a remake. Which is a little frustrating since The Town That Dreaded Sundown (2014) is the kind of remake that I love most. One that uses the original film as a jumping off point and tells a sequel, side story that hits the same beats as the original, like my second favorite remake of all time Evil Dead (2013).
Unfortunately, while Town does hit my happy remake buttons, it fails to deliver on anything really worthwhile. Tension is nonexistent as the movie gets very repetitive very quickly, all of the characters are unlikable, and the twist that Mr Potatohead
was actually Mr. Potatoheads
was super obvious. Nothing the movie did excited me, and I quickly grew bored of it.
I did, however, really enjoy the cinematography (sometimes) and the score. It felt very soft and sincere, dreamlike in the ways that made movies like Drive and Spring Breakers so compelling. But while I strongly believe that both of those movies had much more to them that made their visuals make the substance even more powerful, The Town That Dreaded Sundown (2014) just has a nice concept that looks pretty and that's about it. Passed the time, though, and I wasn't upset when I left. Could do much worse. Will watch the original eventually to make me like this film even more!
Gravity is one of the best movies I have ever seen. Just re watched it. It has a unity of vision, a brevity and conciseness, and a unique use of its medium. I really like this movie.
one of those films people actin like horror buffs will go "omg such a throwback! gore!" and I guess pardon it cause of that?
script is awful. terribly cliche-ridden. acting is mostly bad
this movie has been done before, basically this exact same movie, in way better ways.
just a bad, needless movie. got nothing out of it. felt like something piggybacking on this indie horror revival but missing everything those other movies did
stuff like the babadook and even it follows shit on this
Whiplash. Man, what a movie! Saw it with really good headphones and the last act together with the sound made my blood boil out of excitement. 10 out of 10!
I liked Gravity enough the first time round, but I don't need to ever watch it again. 3D helped my cinema viewing, which is the first time I've actually liked 3D.
Anyways I watched black mass. It's a decent flick, good run through of the history of events. But good god, Depp killed it. Even in a decent ensemble like this he overshadows the hell out of it
Very chilling performance. Dude should get nominated no doubt
Brilliantly shot, but the excess use of white actually made the subtitles quite hard to read at times since it blended in with the film itself. I know that isn't the filmmakers fault but it was quite annoying, and I usually don't have problems with subtitles (I even watch English stuff with subtitles).
I liked Gravity enough the first time round, but I don't need to ever watch it again. 3D helped my cinema viewing, which is the first time I've actually liked 3D.
I watched Gravity twice in theaters, in Imax 3d then in 2D. The two viewings had about the same impact, chills and heart racing in all the same places. I did obviously have bigger criticisms about the film the second time, logically the film just seemed mostly fucking stupid. The ride and adventure of it all was still fun.
Everest - It was pretty good. I was glad I didn't look up any sort of information about the expedition the book was based on before hand, cos it meant I was going in relatively blind, and the film was better for it. Didn't exactly blow my mind like other movies do on occasion, but it was very good indeed.
ive seen Whiplash recently and have to say its one of the best movies ive seen this year. And JK Simmons is just killing it.
Ive also seen Jupiter Ascending and, honestly, I absolutely dont understand where all the hate is coming from. Its one of the best sapce operas ive ever seen (story is so-so but everything else is just incredible). Toi say it with this guys words:
I don't know what to make of a world that rejects this and adores every Marvel movie. Things don't make sense to me.
Given its origins, it's surprising to me that Yojimbo went so long without an American remake, given the relative that Kurosawa adaptations enjoyed in close proximity to their original releases, but it did finally happen and we got Last Man Standing out of it. If you've seen Yojimbo, there's really not much that's done differently from a story standpoint, but it's hard to ignore that the various additions, as they tend to draw away from the proceedings. There's a sense that this film died a death by a thousand notes, as there's a lot of telltale signs of a film that there was a lot of studio exec appeasement. Not enough female presence to draw in the date crowd? Throw in three thankless female roles that are functionally identical and equally pointless. Antagonists too scummy? Give one of them a twisted backstory mired in good intentions that adds nothing to the film, other than giving the usually underappreciated David Patrick Kelly a little more screen time. Story too hard to follow for Joe Sixpack? Give Bruce Willis five bucks to record a voice-over that compares favorably to Harrison Ford's in the theatrical cut of Blade Runner. It's a lot of little stuff like that conspiring to muck up a fine story and group of characters, and it sadly succeeds at doing that too often. Even poor Christopher Walken, in a delightfully nutty role that's as big a 180 from the same position that Tatsuya Nakadai played in the original, feels compromised, as if the mere presence of Walken was enough to make up for how thin and insubstantial his wily enforcer character winds up feeling. There are definitely elements of a great adaptation here, and it's hard to fault Walter Hill's visual styling and Ry Cooder's effective score as being detriments in any way, but even at more than 30 years late to the party, Last Man Standing can't help but feel like an also-ran that only had being able to officially credit the screenplay for Yojimbo as its source material. It's the kind of mediocre film I like the least: the one that had no business being as bland as it should not have been.
Night of the Living Dead had a small budget, but it's by far the most realistic, best-written movie in the series. Dawn is a great horror movie, but too on-the-nose with the cultural stuff, whereas Night let things like the racial dimension simmer more subtly.
Exactly. Compare the over the top racist cop in the beginning of Dawn, to...well almost any scene (especially the amazing ending) in Night. It's like night and day badum ch. Probably what gives Night that wonderfully subtle subtext is because Dwayne's character was not written specifically for a black actor, but the role takes on so many new dimensions due to its casting. I still love Dawn and Day, but Night is the only one that is chilling. Sure it can seem goofy and dated, but that's sort of a meaningless criticism you can throw at a lot of older movies. Disliking an old thing because it's old doesn't make much sense to me.
Ive also seen Jupiter Ascending and, honestly, I absolutely dont understand where all the hate is coming from. Its one of the best sapce operas ive ever seen (story is so-so but everything else is just incredible). Toi say it with this guys words:
I was also positively surprised by Jupiter Ascending. After all the bad reviews my expectations were rock bottom, so that might be a factor. But this quote about the Marvel movies really has a lot of truth in it.
Saw the film yesterday The Maze Runner: Scorch Trials (Yah for cheapy Tuesdays in Canada!).
It's terrible, goodness gracious. The plot doesn't make any sense. The film was oddly paced, too long for what it had to offer, and the script (scenario) was just laughable:
There's a new character in the film, Brenda, played by Rosa Salazar, and she discloses to Thomas, Dylan O'Brien, that he reminds her of her lost brother and yet....drumroll.
She kisses him earlier in the film. Who though of this shit?
I'm so disappointed. Luckily the cinematography is great, but you will get out of the film feeling like you've seen a Transformers film but without the robots...
Exactly. Compare the over the top racist cop in the beginning of Dawn, to...well almost any scene (especially the amazing ending) in Night. It's like night and day badum ch. Probably what gives Night that wonderfully subtle subtext is because Dwayne's character was not written specifically for a black actor, but the role takes on so many new dimensions due to its casting. I still love Dawn and Day, but Night is the only one that is chilling. Sure it can seem goofy and dated, but that's sort of a meaningless criticism you can throw at a lot of older movies. Disliking an old thing because it's old doesn't make much sense to me.
I don't dislike it because it's old (Rosemary's Baby was released the same year and it's my 11th favorite movie ever), but I don't have a problem with those who do. People have different tastes and have lower patience for older media that doesn't have modern conventions. And that's perfectly understandable.
I dislike it because I think it's mega boring and when things happen it's because someone makes a stupid decision or is literally a useless brick. At least my second viewing was made more enjoyable due to heckling. I never found Night or Dawn remotely chilling, but Dawn has a huge scope, fun and likable characteristics, an amazing setting, and has a plot that progresses with characters that have plans. It's a much more dynamic film than Night, and I've lived every viewing of Dawn.
Also lastly, I'm not trying to make objective criticisms (because they don't exist). Just talking about my subject times at the movies!
I don't dislike it because it's old (Rosemary's Baby was released the same year and it's my 11th favorite movie ever), but I don't have a problem with those who do. People have different tastes and have lower patience for older media that doesn't have modern conventions. And that's perfectly understandable.
I dislike it because I think it's mega boring and when things happen it's because someone makes a stupid decision or is literally a useless brick. At least my second viewing was made more enjoyable due to heckling. I never found Night or Dawn remotely chilling, but Dawn has a huge scope, fun and likable characteristics, an amazing setting, and has a plot that progresses with characters that have plans. It's a much more dynamic film than Night, and I've lived every viewing of Dawn.
Also lastly, I'm not trying to make objective criticisms (because they don't exist). Just talking about my subject times at the movies!
I think insubstantial criticism, like calling something dated as a negative without any qualifiers or using that as a platform for critique, is absolutely fair game for being called out on (not calling you or anyone out on this specifically, the dated thing was just a general grievance). Just because something isn't objective doesn't mean it can't be engaged or criticized.
As far as your problems with Night go, I don't very much don't share them. All the things you say are negatives: the useless brick character (I assume you mean Barbara?), characters making stupid decisions, and too static, for me elevate the film into the bottle of tension it is. Barbara is a brick because she is suffering PSTD after witnessing her brother being murdered by a member of the living dead, it's believable for her to have snapped like this and it's a real problem for Ben--who is our protagonist, and really the only reasonable character here--because he needs cooperation to survive. This is further complicated by the family in the basement, who are obviously problematic in their survival strategies and personality, which again raises the tension because we want Ben to survive, and if he's going to he has to co-operate with this bunch. Being trapped in the enclosed farm house adds to the tension because it's just him and them (with obvious racial undertones), and the thin walls keeping the undead at bay.
The ending was perfect as well. It brings the racial themes to a disturbing level, and there's a fantastic and dreadful sense of irony that Ben, having survived the living dead (in the place he thought wouldn't work) is ended up being killed by the very people who are ostensibly coming to save him.
It's the most chilling of the trilogy for a number of reasons. The bleak ending, the gritty black and white photography, the racial subtext, the scene with the daughter and the garden trowel, and the zombies in this are the most frightening they've ever been. In dawn they are colorful ghouls with distinct personalities. In Night they are blank voids, and all look like they were real people...but something is off about them. And like the horror in the birds, every time they look out the window, more of them are gathered.
That's not to say I don't love Dawn as well. It's easy to see the appeal. It has a larger scope, purposefully likable characters (as its less about internal tensions than external--which again I think makes it less uncomfortable, but perhaps more emotional), lots of set-pieces and action and humor. Some days I prefer Dawn, but overall I think Night of the Living Dead remains more effective than its siblings. Yes it's older, and has a fraction of the budget, but I think its subtext remains even more relevant and frightening. Where Dawn's blatant consumers are zombies theme is already feeling a little rusty in the 21st century, Night's racially charged subtext in a situation that demands cooperation against an ever-present existential threat is something that I think is prevailing feeling in much of the world today.
I think insubstantial criticism, like calling something dated as a negative without any qualifiers or using that as a platform for critique, is absolutely fair game for being called out on (not calling you or anyone out on this specifically, the dated thing was just a general grievance). Just because something isn't objective doesn't mean it can't be engaged or criticized.
Oh, of course. Apologies if I implied otherwise. I'm so used to people acting like butts because other people don't experience media the same way they do or because they feel that certain works are "objectively good" and if you don't like them you're wrong that I instinctively go on the defense.
As far as your problems with Night go, I don't very much don't share them. All the things you say are negatives: the useless brick character (I assume you mean Barbara?), characters making stupid decisions, and too static, for me elevate the film into the bottle of tension it is. Barbara is a brick because she is suffering PSTD after witnessing her brother being murdered by a member of the living dead, it's believable for her to have snapped like this and it's a real problem for Ben--who is our protagonist, and really the only reasonable character here--because he needs cooperation to survive. This is further complicated by the family in the basement, who are obviously problematic in their survival strategies and personality, which again raises the tension because we want Ben to survive, and if he's going to he has to co-operate with this bunch. Being trapped in the enclosed farm house adds to the tension because it's just him and them (with obvious racial undertones), and the thin walls keeping the undead at bay.
By useless brick I meant both Barbara and the girlfriend who got the sensible guy killed. I actually think Babs is super fascinating because of how useless she is. The movie really goes out of its way to emphasize that she's literally more helpful when being knocked out than conscious. I call it enjoying it ironically because I find it hysterical, but it really is unforgettable. It's not the most socially progressive sentiment and I feel bad about finding it amusing, but it's a product of its time.
The ending was perfect as well. It brings the racial themes to a disturbing level, and there's a fantastic and dreadful sense of irony that Ben, having survived the living dead (in the place he thought wouldn't work) is ended up being killed by the very people who are ostensibly coming to save him.
It's the most chilling of the trilogy for a number of reasons. The bleak ending, the gritty black and white photography, the racial subtext, the scene with the daughter and the garden trowel, and the zombies in this are the most frightening they've ever been. In dawn they are colorful ghouls with distinct personalities. In Night they are blank voids, and all look like they were real people...but something is off about them. And like the horror in the birds, every time they look out the window, more of them are gathered.
Similarly, I find the ending to be unforgettable. I don't like it at all because of how anticlimactic it is and it just peters out the film with a feeling like absolutely nothing of interest happened to the film. In the theater, the audience I was with reacted to it with a mix of "Wow"s and laughter with some clapping. I don't think the ending aged well at all. It's meaningful in the context of the film, but it's hard to not feel cheated at the end of it.
That's not to say I don't love Dawn as well. It's easy to see the appeal. It has a larger scope, purposefully likable characters (as its less about internal tensions than external--which again I think makes it less uncomfortable, but perhaps more emotional), lots of set-pieces and action and humor. Some days I prefer Dawn, but overall I think Night of the Living Dead remains more effective than its siblings. Yes it's older, and has a fraction of the budget, but I think its subtext remains even more relevant and frightening. Where Dawn's blatant consumers are zombies theme is already feeling a little rusty in the 21st century, Night's racially charged subtext in a situation that demands cooperation against an ever-present existential threat is something that I think is prevailing feeling in much of the world today.
Glad you can see why I love Dawn, even though I dislike Night. Haven't seen any of the other films in the franchise, but I plan on watching Day and the Dawn remake soon for October.
I know you're being sarcastic, but who am I to judge how you read books? If that's your preference, then more power to you! But if you're finding them boring, then you should experiment with how you approach experiencing media.
Whatever it takes to maximize your enjoyment of media, friend. My way works for me, yours for you.
I know you're being sarcastic, but who am I to judge how you read books? If that's your preference, then more power to you! But if you're finding them boring, then you should experiment with how you approach experiencing media.
Whatever it takes to maximize your enjoyment of media, friend. My way works for me, yours for you.
I enjoy reading books by just reading books and watching movies by just watching movies. I'm pretty sure it's actually the only way to approach them.
But you're free to do whatever you want however you want it (save from you talking to your friends and live tweeting in the same theater as me in which case all bets are off). The way you describe it you are simply not watching the movies you think you're watching.
i think live-tweeting on your phone and all that shit is alright if you're in the back row and all the people you're with are somehow fine with that. but if you're in front of me and I see that (after I ask to stop) half my drink is gonna 'fall' on your head.
i've had a few bad dates too because of my screen intolerance lol
I enjoy reading books by just reading books and watching movies by just watching movies. I'm pretty sure it's actually the only way to approach them.
But you're free to do whatever you want however you want it (save from you talking to your friends and live tweeting in the same theater as me in which case all bets are off). The way you describe it you are simply not watching the movies you think you're watching.
i think live-tweeting on your phone and all that shit is alright if you're in the back row and all the people you're with are somehow fine with that. but if you're in front of me and I see that (after I ask to stop) half my drink is gonna 'fall' on your head.
i've had a few bad dates too because of my screen intolerance lol
Oh good lord, no! I don't livetweet in theaters. That's incredibly disrespectful. When I go to the theater, I go there for the explicit and sole purpose of enjoying the film and the company I bring (which means either whispering to each other or cuddling, depending on the person and film). I pay a premium for the theater experience.
But when I'm at home (and to a lesser extent a casual screening like the Night of the Living Dead one), yeah, I'll do things that I enjoy in the meantime.
But no. Not in the theater. That's awful.
livetweeting/blogging is acceptable if it's a movie you have already seen and you're doing some kind of commentary for it (although why anyone would care is of course another matter), but if you livetweet a movie you are watching for the first time then you are most definitely a horrible human being.